Lilia's Tale

Chapter 72: Story

The main character of that book, ironically named John, lived in a world where magic didn't exist. Thus, researchers spent their focus on creating objects that could do different things rather than learn what they could themselves do.

These objects ranged from being able to fly by repeatedly flapping artificial wings, like birds, to even light bulbs. Surprisingly, they didn't mention anything about the electricity that would power that light bulb, which made me wonder how it operated.

As a result of these objects that could 'do the impossible', society had become centered around them. The status of a person was not determined by their job or achievements, but by their possessions.

John was a researcher who one day discovered a way to artificially create lightning, something that was searched for and wanted for a very long time. His discovery, however, was very dangerous, blowing up the entire laboratory, leaving him sole survivor. He now knew how to harness the power of thunder, but not how to control it.

This brought him much unwanted attention, between the high-status people wanting to hire him to increase their own power even further, to researchers that wanted to learn the answer of this great misery, to different kinds of militaristic groups wanting its sheer destructiveness.

Within these groups was one who sought for a change in the status system. They thought these extremely powerful items should be available to everyone. He decided to help them, researching this power further while helping the population through the oppression of the high-status members.

As his research went further, his group became increasingly endangered, having to relocate multiple times, losing many members. Eventually, despite the lack of proper laboratory, he learned to harness this power, creating a near limitless supply of energy within a small container. He named it the Battery.

I was cut from my reading for dinner. It bothered me a little, as I was near the end, but it also allowed me to think things through. Most notably, I found it funny how they see electricity as something extremely dangerous and volatile. The names also felt ironic, most notably the name of the Battery.

The story itself wasn't particularly interesting. The many objects that were mentioned or shown felt like basic rip-offs of magic, but claimed to work through some weird system. Overall, it didn't feel similar to Earth at all, which saddened me.

I made sure to finish the story before taking a bath and going to sleep. The ending was quite cliché, as this revolutionary group used this new knowledge on how to create Batteries in order to distribute them to people and create a revolution. John became the first king.

I sighed, put the book down on my desk, went to take a bath and sleep, still disappointed. There was much interesting in their idea of technology, and the story itself was relatively basic.

The next day, I was planning on working on my summoning again. However, as I headed for the training area and summoned the usual moth, happy to see it sit on my head, it quickly notified me that someone was approaching.

I exited the training area and saw Koko-sensei approaching. She noticed me and seemed pleasantly surprised, although still annoyed.

"Good morning Lilia."

"Good morning. Is something wrong?"

"Yes. Do you remember how I mentioned you might have accidentally created a subjugation request at the Guild?"

"Let me guess. There is one."

"Yes. And as promised, you're gonna come with me to apologise. Good thing you already have the summon with you. We're going now."